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An Air Force officer has been relieved from duties at the Presidio of Monterey after publication of his letter to the editor accusing President George W. Bush of having advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Lt. Col. Steve Butler was serving as vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute when he wrote the letter, which was published in The Herald May 21.

The letter accuses Bush of allowing the attacks to occur for political reasons.

The letter reads in part: "Of course Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama.

"His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative supreme court (if you really want to know why the justices voted like they did, I suggest 'Supreme Injustice' by Alan Dershowitz), the economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency on. "

Butler's letter called the president's course of action "sleazy and contemptible."

Army spokesman Sgt. Mitch Frazier said Butler "has been administratively suspended from his position as vice chancellor/student affairs pending the outcome of an investigation."

"Further details are not available at this time as the investigation is ongoing," Frazier said.

Butler could not be reached to comment Monday but his wife, Shelly Butler, said the military had given her husband "a lot of grief" over the letter. He was relieved of his duties at the language school and has been assigned to temporary duty at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, she said.

She said he plans to retire in a few weeks after 24 years in the Air Force, including duty as a combat pilot in Desert Storm. In addition to criticism from the military, she said, "we got a few phone calls from people we don't even know" supporting his position. She said his friends also are also being supportive, "but work-wise, people won't say anything."

Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice says that "any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the president, the vice president, Congress, the secretary of defense, the secretary of a military department, the secretary of transportation or the governor or legislature of any state, territory, commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."

The last Article 88 court martial came in 1965 when an Army second lieutenant was prosecuted for taking part in an antiwar protest in Texas, according to Lt. Col. Maritza S. Ryan of the Army Judge Advocate General Corps.

Ryan said the Pentagon "quietly issued" memos reminding officers of the Article 88 provisions after President Clinton became embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, setting off a number of articles and letters to the editor from military officers.

Honestly, I have come to see the 9-11 attacks as a tool to rally the nation behind Bush administration. With tremendous support behind this administration and the fear of most americans to question Bush's motives for fear of being labeled anti-american or terrorist, we are going to lose many many civil liberties.

The autonomy given to the FBI in the lsat weeks is just one example. This could NEVER have happened without this "terrorism war".

I think your Q&A post is very very interesting and raises some hard to ignore theories.

I hope the congressional investigation machine will explore these issues thoroughly and without delay.

I just want to make it clear that when you join the military you give up your rights of citizenship. You are NOT allowed to have opinions and you are especially not allowed to question a superior officer, especially as publicly as in a newspaper.

Yes Doob. But you can not deny this man was very brave for speaking out.

I know he will be court marshalled and you can rest assured that he knew he would be court marshalled before he put the envelope in the mail.

Just so the relevance of the situation is not lost on you......an officer has spoken out aginst his cmmander-in-chief! This is a great day for those of us who KNOW that 9-11 could have been preventd and was not.

Yeah, that's true, I get tired of hearing the same old bullshit from military service men. They will argue up and down about how protests are against military policy, and then go snort some heroin, fucking hyprocrites. But these stories are perfect for international press, such that we get info like this from Israili press.

In reply to:This is a great day for those of us who KNOW that 9-11 could have been preventd and was not.

Know? HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!

The man agreed to follow certain rules when he signed up. If he couldn't live within those rules he should have resigned first, then sent the letter.

Keep in mind there were far more of these cases when that sleezebag Clinton was in office.

--------------------You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers

In reply to: It would appear that the almighty Bush war machine is starting to show signs of weakness within it's own ranks.

Wishful thinking.

--------------------You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers

The upcoming G8 summit is being held an hour away from my place. There will be alot of world leaders attending..including Bush. They aren't expecting much in the way of protesters since it is located in the Mountains, but many political issues will be brought to our attention, I'll post whatever I can find out.

US air force colonel suspended for saying Bush 'is a joke', 'he needed Osama' 05:57 PM EDT Jun 05 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. air force has suspended a colonel who wrote a letter in which he ridiculed President George W. Bush for his response to terrorism, accusing him of allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to happen because "his presidency was going nowhere."

The letter from Lt.-Col. Steve Butler was published May 26 in The (Monterey County) Herald. "He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism," Butler wrote. "His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama. His presidency was going nowhere. . . . This guy is a joke."

Butler, who called Bush's alleged silence "sleazy and contemptible," had been vice-chancellor for student affairs at the Defence Language Institute in Monterey. He was suspended May 29 pending an investigation, air force spokeswoman Valerie Burkes said Tuesday.

Butler entered active duty in 1979 and was a navigator during Desert Storm, Burkes said. His wife, Shelly, told The Herald that Butler plans to retire in a few weeks.

A woman who answered the phone at his home Tuesday hung up when an Associated Press reporter asked to speak with Butler, and he did not respond to an e-mail.

Military law prohibits "contemptuous words" against the president and other political leaders.

The prohibition dates to 1776, when soldiers were forbidden from using "traitorous or disrespectful words." The rules were updated several times, and "traitorous or disrespectful" was changed to "contemptuous." The president, vice-president, Congress and state governors were specifically banned as targets of bad-mouthing.

In 1950, Congress enacted the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the prohibition survived intact as Article 88, but only commissioned officers were subject to penalties.

The maximum punishment under Article 88 is dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for one year.

The only known Article 88 court-martial took place in the mid-1960s, according to the July 1999 edition of The Army Lawyer.

In that case, a second lieutenant dressed in civilian clothing during off-duty hours left Fort Bliss to take part in a demonstration against the Vietnam War in nearby El Paso, Texas. He carried a sign that read "Let's Have More Than a Choice Between Petty Ignorant Fascists in 1968" and "End Johnson's Fascist Aggression in Vietnam."

During the Clinton administration, several military officers were disciplined for bad-mouthing the president, according to the article in The Army Lawyer.

Among them was a U.S. air force general who was fined, reprimanded and forced into early retirement for referring to former president Bill Clinton as "gay-loving," "womanizing," "draft-dodging" and "pot-smoking."

What I said was, he agreed to follow certain rules. If he could no longer deal with those rules, he should have resigned and then spoken out.

He gave his word to follow those rules. I don't know you, but I value my word above almost everything else. When I give it, I keep it. If I was in his situation, I would have resigned and then raised a big stink. That would have allowed me to keep my word and to speak out.

I tire of this.

I'll leave you with this and await a post from you on another subject.

I believe that more often than not the leaders of my country do the right thing. Of course sometimes they don't, either from their own self interest, by mistake, or by stupidity.

I believe G. Bush is an honorable man who at least tries to do the right thing.

I believe Bush won, maybe not by the rules you and others like you may like, but by the rules as set forth in our constitution.

I believe many liberals are short-sighted, mislead, gulible individuals.

I believe our government has exceded the powers set forth in the bill of rights and should be cut down in size and scope.

I believe welfare, social security, and many other programs are unconstitutional.

I believe Reagans biggest mistake was signing the earned income credit into law.

I believe if you don't work by choice, you should starve.

I belive in swift capital punishment.

I belive in the abolishment of drug laws.

I belive that there should be no laws regulating individual behaivor, as long as my actions do not harm or adversly affect others.

I believe I should be made the omnipotent ruler of all things, peoples, and places.

--------------------You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers

Luvdemshrooms wrote,He gave his word to follow those rules. I don't know you, but I value my word above almost everything else. When I give it, I keep it. If I was in his situation, I would have resigned and then raised a big stink. That would have allowed me to keep my word and to speak out.

I wholeheartedly agree with you on this (and most of the beliefs you stated further down in your post). It is unfortunate that the concept of honor is so far removed from political discourse these days. If a man cannot keep his word, he is dishonorable and cannot be trusted. Of course the creed of political correctness looks down upon the concepts of honor, fidelity and truthfulness as silly contrivances that get in the way of what is deemed the higher political goal of one big government nursemaid to all of humanity. This is to the detriment of the Republic and liberty.